A wireless sensor network for early forest fire detection and monitoring as a decision factor in the context of a complex integrated emergency response system

Wildfires, often dubbed megafires, have in recent times increased in both frequency and scale, owing largely to human error as well as climate change. Due to their uncontrolled unpredictable rapid growth and behaviour, they can quickly become difficult to contain, leading to significant loss of lives, wildlife and property. It is therefore critical to tackle such fires in the early stages. This demands a reduction in the initial time to detection while ensuring reliability and a low false alarm rate. This paper discusses a new category of compact, easily deployable and energy efficient approach to sensor nodes for the continued monitoring of forest environments as well as the early detection of fires in their infancy based on a combination of sensory inputs. The sensor network reported in this paper was tested with other subsystems/technologies, in a real-life firefighting trial as part of a coordinated firefighting scenario with promising results.